Govt suspends sale of sub-standard regulators

KATHMANDU, Aug 23: A joint market monitoring team of Department of Commerce (DoC), District Administration Office of Kathmandu, Nepal Bureau of Standard and Metrology and consumers rights organizations on Monday directed four wholesale shops in New Road to stop the sale of sub-standard cooking gas regulators.



Kamal Bahadur Thapa, an officer at DoC, told Republica that the team found Shristy Impex, New Asia Impex and Hemanta Impex at Pako, New Road, selling Hitco brand of regulators from Raj Engineering India, Unit brand from Unit Industry India and Indo brand from Pashupati Industry, India with fake standard marks. They were selling regulators with fake standard marks like IS 4129, IS 6768 and IS 9897 instead of IS 9898.



“We have suspended the sale of those regulators and asked the owners to furnish clarification at DoC in person within a week,” Thapa said.



The team also seized 200 regulators from Shriti Impex, 20 from New Asia Impex and 60 from Hemanta Impex. The team has also asked Deepika Electronics, which had not renewed its certificate, to furnish clarification within a week.



The team also sought clarification from Saibaba Gas - an LPG bottler - for distributing gas cylinders with sub-standard valves and caps. The team had also sought clarification from other LPG bottlers -- Sagarmatha, Everest and Himal Gas -- for failing to meet the specified standard.

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